Co Antrim rider Eugene McManus Junior celebrated his 20th birthday with his first points in the British Supersport championship.
McManus fought his way from the back of the grid to score some points in race one before crashing out at Becketts on lap four of the second race.
"Although the race results perhaps don't show it we achieved so much more than we thought possible at the beginning of the weekend," the Randalstown racer said.
"We qualified eighth in our first Supersport race. Unfortunately we then had to start at the back of the grid but even then we fought through to 11th."
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McManus was pulled from the starting grid before race one as his tyres were found to be marginally under the legal pressure allowed. The result was he had to start from the back of the grid.
But he still managed to put in a superb performance, surging through the field and finishing 14th overall, and 11th in the Supersport class.
McManus lined up 11th on the grid for race two and was feeling positive after finishing the morning warm-up in seventh. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the start he wanted losing several places on the first lap.
He quickly recovered one position but it was to no avail as on lap four he fell uninjured at Becketts.
"The second race we didn't finish but overall it was a very positive start. I know there will be more challenges ahead at other circuits but we are happy with our start," he added.
Meanwhile, Eugene's brother James crashed out of race one in the Junior Supersports after a collision with another rider but managed to claim a 19th-place finish in race two.
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James said: "The weekend was all about more time on the bike and learning the circuit.
"We had a couple of technical issues and then someone collided with me, but that but that is racing. You always want more but really we made good progress on the kawasaki."
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